Star Wars Gets Stamped

There’s good news for the Star Wars enthusiast who’s also a stamp collector. A set of 15 new 41-cent postage stamps featuring such characters as Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Chewbacca, Princess Leia, Yoda, Darth Vader and R2-D2 were unveiled Wednesday at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles, where the first Star Wars movie opened nearly 30 years ago. The ceremony was presided over by David Failor, exec director of stamp services for the U.S. Postal Service, along with R2-D2, Darth Vader and Howard Roffman, president of Lucas Licensing.

The commemorative stamps feature images from all six movies in George Lucas’ fantasy saga. Other characters set to travel around the world on envelopes include Queen Padme Amidala, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, Emperor Palpatine, Darth Maul, Imperial Stormtroopers and Boba Fett.

The stamps will be released at a first-day-of-issue ceremony on Friday, May 25, at Star Wars Celebration IV, a massive fan gathering taking place at the Los Angeles Convention Center. First, however, Americas will have a chance to vote for their favorite stamp, which will be a special issue to be available for sale this summer. Voting is taking place online now through May 23 at http://www.uspsjedimaster.com.

The U.S. Postal Service kicked off its partnership with Lucas Licensing earlier this month when it introduced mailboxes designed to look like R2-D2. A sweepstakes attached to the promotion asks postal patrons to solve six different challenges about Postal Service products and services for the chance to win a trip to Los Angeles for Star Wars Celebration IV. To learn more about The Jedi Shipping and Mailing Master sweepstakes, go to http://www.uspsjedimaster.com.